


Only Hope For Me Is You

by orphan_account



Category: Tiny Meat Gang (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Goth Noel, Homophobic Language, M/M, Punk Cody
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-05
Updated: 2019-08-05
Packaged: 2020-07-31 12:28:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20115103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Cody works at Spencer’s, and Noel works at Hot Topic.





	Only Hope For Me Is You

As Cody walked through the mall, toward the hell that controlled his life, he thought about how everything around him was a disgusting shrine to greed, consumerism, materialism; stores filled with fast-fashion, cheap clothing made with child labor, unlikely to survive a year of use before becoming another piece of trash in the landfill; advertisements on all sides, mannequins and displays and brightly colored signs designed to entice people to part with the money they suffered for everyday at their shitty jobs, convince them that if they buy they’d be prettier, happier, more successful, that maybe a new shirt, new watch, new makeup, new shoes, new car would give them something to live for, distract them from the pain of their oppression by greedy capitalists, worked to the bone only to be—

Cody’s eyes were caught by a slim man, black hair and tan skin. He was wearing a black t-shirt, ripped black jeans, black nail polish, and black eye makeup, and his feet were adorned with giant platform boots. It was a great look. “Hell yeah,” Cody thought, “that’s a great look,” and his mood was slightly improved as he walked into Spencer’s, his unfortunate place of employment.

—

“Isn’t that guy over there cute?” 

Noel sighed. “Shannon, please stop checking out our customers.”

She leaned in closer. “Look.” She pointed at her right shoulder and then toward the customer Noel gave in and turned around. The man in question, who was browsing through the clearance rack, had on a denim jacket with various pins and patches on it, including a bisexual flag in the spot Shannon had pointed out. 

“Okay?”

“Well, that means he’s, you know.” She made a gesture with her hands that meant absolutely nothing. “I think I saw him checking you out when he walked in.”

Shannon was a nice girl, but she was also dumb as hell, and painfully straight, and Noel wasn’t really in the mood to deal with this matchmaker bullshit. 

“Do you think all gay people want to fuck each other?” and maybe he said that with more bite than was really necessary, but it also wasn’t necessary for her to be so annoying.

“No! I’m just saying.”

She shuffled away and they went back to work, Noel absentmindedly folding band tees as he counted down the minutes until he got to go home. 

When Noel rang the man up, he was reluctant to admit that he was, in fact, cute. 

“I love your fashion sense, by the way” the man said, and Noel returned with a compliment about the man’s bright red hair.

After he left, Noel saw that Shannon was giving him a smug look. He put his middle finger up at her.

—

“Excuse me,” a shrill voice yelled from behind him. Cody turned around to find a woman in her mid-40s, sporting fried bleach-blonde hair and a hideous fake tan, scowling at him from the other side of the counter. 

“How can I help you?” he smiled back at her, the definition of customer service.

“My _underaged_ daughter bought a product from your store and you _did not_ ID her. I found it in her room and I was so disgusted I immediately threw it away. I want to speak to whoever was responsible for selling a child such _filth_.” She gestured toward the back corner, in the direction of the sex toys.

Oh boy, what a fun lady. “Well I’m terribly sorry, ma’am, but Spencer’s does not require ID to purchase our novelty items.”

“You don’t require ID?” and if she wasn’t yelling before this moment, she was now. “That can’t be legal! She’s a _child_! She’s only 17 years old and you’re selling her obscene products? I’m sorry but that cannot be right, let me speak to a manager.”

Cody’s fake smile widened just a little more as he gritted his teeth, masking the extreme hatred filling every ounce of his body. “Ma’am, I am the manager on duty, and I assure you that as a national chain, we would not sell merchandise to a minor illegally.”

The woman scoffed loudly. “Well at least let me get a refund!” 

“Do you have the item in its original, unopened packaging, as well as the receipt?”

“Of course not, I already told you I threw it away! But you sold obscene items to a child, causing her unimaginable damage and corruption on her impressionable mind, not to mention the emotional trauma I experienced finding it, so I think the least you could do—” 

Suddenly a smooth voice interrupted her tirade. “Lady, you’re not getting a refund, so can you get out of the way? There are actual customers here who need help.” 

The voice was coming from the Hot Topic cashier with the great fashion sense. 

“Mind your own business,” the woman barked.

“Well that’s what I was trying to do before you started shouting bullshit in the middle of the fucking mall.”

“Do not curse at me! I am a woman of the Lord.” She scowled as she looked up and down the man’s body.

The man laughed. “I assure you, I’m _very_ godly. But maybe if you spent less energy invading your daughters privacy and instead focused on not looking like a hot dog wearing a Halloween wig, your husband would still fuck you and you wouldn’t be such a bitch.”

The woman was screeching now. “I will not take such disrespect from a little faggot like you!”

Cody’s eyes widened, and he figured that was his moment to step in. “Ma’am, you’re going to have to leave.”

“I have to leave? Did you not hear how he was—”

“I’m not going to ask again before calling security.”

The woman sputtered for a moment, but finally stormed out, allowing Cody to turn his attention to his defender.

“I’m so sorry you had to deal with that—”

“Nah man, I know what it’s like. Finally got to let out my frustrations on someone else’s customer. That bitch was crazy though, huh?”

Cody smiled. “Yeah, she really was. Thank you so much.”

“It’s no problem, really. Can I get some help with the piercing case now?”

“Oh, of course.” Cody retrieved the jewelry the man picked out, and he couldn’t help thinking about how good it would look on him. 

—

It was Black Friday and Noel had been working for almost 10 hours, running on about 4 hours of sleep. He clocked out for a 30, limped out to the nearest bench and curled up on it, laying his head on the armrest, desperate to get off of his feet and get away from the bullshit he had put up with all day. He closed his eyes.

“Hey, you gotta get out of here.”

Noel’s eyes snapped open to find a security guard standing in front of him. “What?” He looked at his phone. It had been 7 minutes. He must have fallen asleep.

“You can’t sleep in the mall. You’re going to have to leave.”

“Huh? No, dude, I work here.” Noel pointed at his name tag and then gestured vaguely toward the Hot Topic. “I’m on my break.”

The security guard pursed his lips. “Alright, but you still can’t sleep here.”

“Alright dude.” The moment the security guard turned to walk away, Noel rolled his eyes. Fuck this place. 

“That was bullshit.”

He slowly turned his head toward the voice next to him, brain still foggy from his short nap. It was that Spencer’s guy. Noel nodded at him, which the other man seemed to take as permission to keep talking. 

“These mall cops think they’re tough, harassing people for no fucking reason. Who cares if you take a nap? We bust our asses off all day for this dystopian-ass ‘holiday’ just to get scolded for laying on a bench? Fuck these mall pigs.”

“Mall pigs?”

“Yeah, the assholes paid to keep this consumerist nightmare in order. Give someone the smallest taste of power and suddenly they think they’re fucking Tony Stark.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Noel rubbed his face and laughed. “I’m so fucking tired. Fuck the holidays.”

“Tell me about it. Who drags their ass out to the mall on the busiest day of the year to brave the crowds for some fucking ironic t-shirts?”

They spent the next 15 minutes venting about their days. Noel checked the time and groaned, dreading the rest of his shift.

“Fuck, I gotta go back in a moment. Thanks for keeping me awake, uh,” Noel looked down at the other man’s name tag, “Cody. I’m Noel, by the way.”

“Of course. Maybe I’ll see you around, Noel.”

Noel’s day, in fact, his entire week had sucked, and he realized Cody was probably the first person in days he had been genuinely interested in interacting with.

—

Cody was on his break and aimlessly browsing Hot Topic, but truthfully, he hadn’t paid much attention to any of the merchandise. His focus was more directed at Noel, who he had spent the last 10 minutes stealing glances at.

After Noel caught him for the fourth time, he smiled and winked, and Cody’s heart started racing.

He was disdainfully staring at the wall of Funko Pop! figurines when he heard, “you collect?” from behind him. Cody jumped, causing Noel to start cracking up. 

“I, uh, no, I, god no I don’t collect these bastards,” he said, stumbling over his words as he tried to recover. “Sometimes I just stare at them and try to find the worst one possible. Did you know they sell Kurt Cobain figures? And, oh, I once found a dead Laura Palmer, wrapped in plastic and everything.”

“What do you think would be the worst figure they could sell?”

“I don’t know, Kurt Cobain is pretty bad. Although, if they sold Mussolini’s corpse, I’d buy that for sure.”

Noel cackled at the joke, causing Cody to start laughing as well. “Holy shit, man, that’s so fucked up!”

“They’re already selling a teen girl’s corpse!” 

Once their laughter died down, there was an uncomfortable pause, both men feeling the tension between them.

“Hey, uh,” Cody finally said, “you got Instagram or something?”

Noel smirked at him. “You trying to slide into my dm’s?”

“I, uh, just thought maybe—” Cody was blushing.

“I’m just fucking with you, man. It’s noehellkiller.”  
Cody pulled up the app and made Noel spell the name out for him.

“Awesome. Maybe we can, uh, hang out sometime?” Cody was blushing.

Noel smiled. “That would be nice.”


End file.
